2023 Year in Review, Predictions for 2024

Real Mormonism

Send us a Text Message.

2023 US politics. It may be hard to believe, but at this time in 2022, Donald Trump had not been indicted on a single criminal charge. As of today, Donald Trump has been indicted in four states on 91 different criminal charges. In addition, A jury found Donald Trump liable in May for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million and he recently completed a civil fraud trial in New York that could result in the loss of his business license and require him to pay $250 million. Yet, he remains the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination. Has this been a good year or a bad year for Donald Trump?
2023 foreign politics. The year began with a hopeful Ukraine that they would be able to use foreign aid to push Russia from its borders. Things seemed especially hopeful after Wagner rebelled against Putin. Now, The EU and US seem reluctant to continue financial support of the war effort. China has faced internal political and economic challenges resulting in mass exodus from their country. Tens of thousands of millionaires are fleeing the country and more than 24,000 Chinese citizens have been apprehended crossing into the US from Mexico in 2023. They fly to Ecuador and pay smugglers to guide their travel through the dangerous jungle between Colombia and Panama en route to the United States. In addition to problems at the southern border, the United States is trying to negotiate peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians. It seems like a game of Risk is being set up and the US is about to face too many conflicts to handle with our existing might. Is the world in a better place today than it was a year ago?

2023 US economy: Last year, economists were predicting that the US would be in a recession before the end of 2023. They expected unemployment to be somewhere close to 5% and that it would lose 2 million jobs. Instead, the unemployment rate, has come in below 4% for 22 straight months, the longest such streak since the 1960s, hiring has slowed but remains healthy, and inflation dropped from 9% in June to 3.1% in December. Economists now think that the US will avoid a recession altogether. What do you think about the performance of the US economy in 2023? Is it better, worse, or just about the same as you expected it to be?
2023 LDS Church. There are so many things we could discuss. Lori Daybell conviction, Tim Ballard, 8 Passengers plea deal, The YSA conference in Utah, 38 new temples announced, 36 new missions created, President Ballard passing, Elder Kearon called, Elder Holland being on his deathbed, getting healed, and then called as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, Romney retiring, and the SEC fining the church for the way in which they hid money. What do you think is the most important church related story in 2023?
Predictions: What do you think will happen in 2024?

1. In the LDS church/Mormondom?
2. In US politics?
3. In global politics?
4. In the US economy?